Jhota's accused killer sent to police custody as his wife and an aide are arrested

The chemist accused of shooting dead the anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota was sent to a week of police custody on Thursday, as Punjab Police widened the case to his wife and two associates and the activist’s family kept up its refusal to cremate him.

Ashwani Kumar and his associate Vipin Kumar appeared before a Mansa court by video conference and were remanded for seven days. Police also arrested Kumar’s wife, Neelam Rani, and another associate, Laadi. The preliminary investigation shows the licence for the medical store where Jhota was shot was in Neelam Rani’s name.

Jhota was killed on Tuesday morning inside the store in a busy Mansa market, while he was hosting a Facebook Live, after he questioned Kumar about selling addictive drugs to an elderly man. Kumar switched off his phone and fled with the help of his associates before he was caught at Salasar in Rajasthan.

Calls, licences and a missing gun

Mansa Senior Superintendent of Police Vaibhav Choudhary said Kumar made one call to his uncle and four to his son, and the calls are being looked into. Kumar already faced at least five FIRs, and police are looking at how he came to hold an arms licence. Police have yet to seize the gun.

“From whom he got the weapon and how his arms licence was approved, all these things will be investigated,” Choudhary said.

The FIR, registered at City-2 police station on the complaint of Jhota’s father, Bhim Singh, an ex-serviceman, invokes sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita on murder, attempt to murder, criminal conspiracy and causing hurt with a dangerous weapon, along with the Arms Act. The station’s officer in charge, Inspector Beant Kaur, was suspended on Thursday.

A family that will not cremate

Jhota’s body remains in the mortuary of the civil hospital in Mansa. His family has refused to perform the last rites until it gets justice. A joint action committee wants Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Director General of Police Gaurav Yadav to resign, a CBI investigation, and the dismissal of several local officers and a drug inspector.

Thursday’s bandh over the killing was backed by the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal, the BJP, Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and government employee unions. Streets and markets in several districts were deserted.

In Mansa, opinion is split over Wednesday’s demolition of Kumar’s shop. Bathinda Range DIG Harjeet Singh said the demolitions followed all legal formalities and were part of the state’s “Yudh Nashian Virudh” campaign. Shiromani Akali Dal general secretary Bikram Singh Majithia called the action “too little, too late” and “merely an eyewash”, and asked why senior officers had not been held to account. Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh visited the family with former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi.

Opposition steps up the attack

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in a social media post, asked Mann who would protect people fighting drugs in Punjab. He cited Jhota’s killing and two cases from Sangrur, and said the Congress would not rest until the drug trade ended.

Sachin Pilot, the Congress general secretary in charge of Punjab, said drugs could be had faster than a meal. “One can call and get ‘chitta’ home delivered faster,” he said, and accused the AAP government of failing on its promise to end drugs within three months of taking office. The government has dismissed the opposition’s criticism as politically motivated.

Punjab goes to the polls early next year. On Friday, Mann chairs a meeting of district police chiefs, sub-divisional magistrates and deputy superintendents at the Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur to review his government’s anti-drug drive. The meeting was fixed before Jhota was killed.